Sugar Plums for Dry Creek & At Home in Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad Page A

life.
    â€œNo, I want it to look like Miss Lizette’s,” Amanda said. “She’s aw fully pretty.”
    â€œThat she is, sweet heart,” Judd said as he picked up the rib bon. He supposed he could try to braid hair. He was good at tying knots; he should be able to figure out hair braids.
    Judd did a cross between a sailor’s knot and a square knot.
    â€œIt doesn’t look like Miss Lizette’s,” Amanda said as she stood up to look in the driver’s mirror of his pickup. Judd had just pulled into a parking place near the church and was un fastening the seat belts the children wore.
    â€œThe rib bon’s pretty,” Judd said reassuringly.
    Judd looked at the braid again. Amanda was right. It didn’t look at all like the one Lizette wore. “Maybe if you keep your head tilted to the right.”
    Judd wondered how many times he needed to bring the kids to Sunday school be fore he could throw him self on the mercy of Mrs. Hargrove. If he could just spend an afternoon with her asking questions, he knew he could do a better job with Amanda and Bobby. There should be some kind of a book or something that people could buy when they inherited kids all of a sudden like he had. Something that covered night mares and braids and the other questions he had.
    â€œYou’re coming with us, aren’t you?” Bobby asked anxiously after he and Amanda had both climbed out of the passenger side of the pickup.
    Judd looked over at them. They looked like little ref u gee children, frightened of a new experience and excited all at the same time. They’d asked so many questions this morning about church and Sunday school that he knew they’d never gone to either in their short lives. They didn’t know what to expect any more than he did.
    â€œSure. I’m coming,” Judd said as he opened his door. He hoped this wasn’t one of those churches that required ties, because he didn’t own one. It had al ways seemed point less to have a tie when he didn’thave a suit. Judd wished he’d screwed up his courage and visited this little church be fore the children came. At least then he could tell them what it looked like in side.
    â€œIt might have windows with pictures,” Judd had said this morning. He couldn’t remember actually looking that closely at the church in Dry Creek, but churches had those stained-glass windows, didn’t they?
    Judd looked down the side of the church now. He didn’t see any stained-glass windows showing from the out side. “Even if there’s no pictures, Mrs. Hargrove will be there.”
    The last seemed to re assure Bobby and Amanda. Judd wished he had thought to re mind them of that fact earlier.
    â€œShe’s going to be the Snow Queen,” Amanda said. “But her costume won’t be as pretty as mine.”
    â€œI think you’re going to have the prettiest costume of all,” Judd agreed as they started walking up the steps of the church. He put his hand on top of Amanda’s head.
    â€œThere’s Miss Lizette,” Amanda said when they reached the bottom of the steps.
    Judd looked down the street. Sure enough, Lizette was walking to ward them. She wore a red wool coat and had a small black hat on her head. She lookedmore up town than any thing Judd had ever seen in Dry Creek.
    â€œGood morning,” Judd said. He couldn’t think of one good reason why he’d never bought a suit and a tie in his life. A man should be pre pared for days like this.
    â€œHello,” Lizette said as she smiled at them. “Are you going to church, too?”
    Amanda nodded. “And we’re going to sit in a pew,” Amanda leaned over and confided to Lizette. “But that’s not a stinky thing. Cousin Judd says it’s a long chair and we’ve got to share it.”
    Judd figured even a tie wouldn’t save him now. “The children were curious about